Cheryl Hines Details How RFK Jr. Broke Her Out of ‘Entertainment Bubble’ in L.A.—as She Gets Brutal Grilling About His Policies on ‘The View’

Comedian Cheryl Hines has revealed how her husband, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., helped to break her out of her "entertainment bubble" in Los Angeles as she vehemently defended him against his critics during an appearance on "The View."

Hines, 60, went toe-to-toe with several panelists on the hit daytime show, which she joined to promote her upcoming memoir, "Unscripted."

Looking back on the earliest days of their relationship, the "Curb Your Enthusiasm" star recalled how she and Kennedy, 71, were living on opposite sides of the country—and moving in very different circles—when they were introduced by her co-star Larry David in 2006.

"When I met Bobby, he was living in New York, I was living in L.A., and I had just been in this entertainment ... bubble," she said.

"Then I meet him and he's an environmental attorney, and he's fascinating and he's interesting, and he's smart and he's funny, and completely different from anyone I ever met in my life."

Four years later, what started as a friendship evolved into a romance, and the duo ended up tying the knot in 2014 in a ceremony held at the Kennedy family's iconic Hyannis Port compound.

At the time, Hines was still working as an actress, while Kennedy continued to pursue his career in law. However, he did relocate to Los Angeles, where the couple were, until recently, residing in a $6.6 million Brentwood abode.

In the past 12 months, however, Hines' so-called entertainment bubble has all but burst thanks to Kennedy's appointment to President Donald Trump's Cabinet, in which he serves as the 26th secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

His decision to join Trump's administration sparked uproar from critics, with several of his own family members also speaking out to blast his inexperience and his anti-vaccination stance.

Speaking on "The View," Hines conceded that her husband's withdrawal from the presidential race—in which he would have run as an opponent to Trump—and his subsequent collaboration with the president have been "complicated."

"With Bobby, that was a very difficult decision to make with President Trump," she admitted, while noting that she is currently registered as an independent, having previously registered as a Democrat.

"It was complicated, right?" she went on. "Because that is a big change politically."

Still, Hines insisted that both her husband and the president want nothing more than to improve health care in the U.S., hitting back at Joy Behar's suggestion that Kennedy and Trump are making "Americans very nervous" by "casting doubt on the efficacy of the vaccine."

"So my question is, can we do better?" Hines responded. "Yes to vaccines, they are important, and they are an important part of our health care. Can we do better? Can we make them safer?

"Can we listen to parents who say, 'My child got the vaccine and changed and stopped hitting markers, stopped developing the way they were developing.'"

Whoopi Goldberg caveated her own criticism of Kennedy's credentials—noting that he is "not a doctor" and "not a professional"—by conceding that Hines shouldn't be expected to answer for any of her husband's decisions when she is not the one making them.

"This is not your fight, really, to be fair. This is your husband’s," Goldberg said, before the conversation moved on to several of Kennedy's other divisive claims.

Hines did answer one major question that Behar was desperate to ask: "Does [Kennedy] or does he not have a brain worm?" Behar was referring to claims made by Kennedy in 2024 that doctors had, in 2010, discovered a worm "that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died."

Playing up to the crowd, the comedian jokingly responded: "It ate just a little bit of his brain and died. So don't worry."

"The View" appearance marks the latest in a line of interviews Hines has taken part in during the past few months as she prepares for the Nov. 11 publication of her highly anticipated memoir, which will include intimate details about her marriage to Kennedy—including the claims that he had a "sexting" relationship with 31-year-old journalist Olivia Nuzzi.

Speaking to CBS News about the tome, Hines shed some light on what it has been like to transition from popular TV actress to political wife—admitting that her unwavering support of her husband had seen some of her former friends turn their backs on her after she moved to Washington, DC.

Addressing the rift between her husband and other members of his family, Hines noted that several of her own friendships were torn apart by her continued support of her husband. She admitted that "a few friends" have found it "too difficult emotionally" to remain close to her in light of Kennedy's political stance.

Indeed, Hines has faced such criticism as a result of her husband's political career that she revealed he once suggested they stage a marital separation to stem some of the vitriol being thrown her way by his most outspoken detractors.

"I didn't understand what—how that was going to help," she said. "But I understood what he was talking about. I appreciated it."

While much has been made of Hines' evolution from on-screen comedian to political wife, she insisted that she has found several friends in Washington, DC, while noting that her marriage has not been damaged by her husband's career or his views, even if she doesn't always agree with them.

"We are really close. I like spending time with him. I love him. I love our family and our kids," she said. "It's not always going to be easy, but we also know not everybody's going to like what you're saying, what you're doing, and that's OK, too. It just is OK. That's life."